Soul of the Tiger: Primordial Heritage
by Culpeo46
Summary: Visited by a mysterious entity in the Dark Forest, Tigerstar discovered his fate has been pivoted around and turned upside down. Suspicious of the entity's actions, he now journeys across the terrain of the Clans once again in the hopes of seeking crucial answers. Unbeknownst to him, the case might hold more than what meets the eye. Rated T for violence and profanity.
1. Chapter 1: The Embrace of Darkness

Gazing around, the tomcat took in the sight of the dark, menacing trees that enclosed around him, undisturbed by the dark aura that they emitted. In fact, he seemed to welcome it. Stepping forward, stiff black grass crunched and cracked underneath his pads as he made his way to the middle of the black clearing. Rearing up on his hind legs, the tomcat leapt on top of the smooth, round boulder, stabilizing his footing.

A sharp, strong breeze from the western side of the thick clearing whipped at the dark trees, ruffling and buffeting the leaves viciously in all directions, making the trees whisper violently. The large tomcat sat back on his haunches, seizing the opportunity to rest his sore legs after the long toil up the savage incline. The breeze ruffled his thick pelt softly as he took a deep breath, feeling a relaxing sensation well up in his chest, spreading down his back as he let out a deep sigh. Stretching his toned shoulders, he lowered himself to the flat area of the smooth boulder, tucking his paws comfortably underneath his bushy mane.

_Funny how a cat can grow tired of this place._ The tabby tom chuckled at the thought. _Waking up in the same place every passing day, right here._ He gazed at the trees that loomed eerily around him. A pang of sadness pricked his paws. _Can never be more painful._

_But this is the place where all the greatest of cats go!_ A small voice rebuked him. _Power, Fame, Ambition. These are the things you owned in your temporary life! What more can you ask for?_ The last words sounded like a challenge. And yet, he felt there was something missing. Something important.

_But what is it?_ He clawed the boulder in frustration. _What is it that I was missing?_

The small voice spoke fiercely again. _You are not missing anything! Look around you, this is the place where the greatest cats go! The Dark Forest. Anything else are too weak to have ambitions. Even that stinking little kittypet doesn't deserve leadership over ThunderClan._ It added coldly. _You are going to be having your revenge soon. Just be patient._

Another voice managed to seep it's way inside his head. _But how long can you keep living a life full of revenge and contempt for others? Ask yourself, isn't there a better way to live it?_ The second voice added strictly. _The previous life gave you the chance to see it, but what did you end up doing? That's right, you ended up lying in the pool of your own blood. You wasted your life for selfish gain._ The last words sliced through like an icy claw. He flinched at the thought.

_It isn't selfish if you bask in power's favour. _The first voice defended itself. _There are two ranks that divide the rest of the cats: the strong and the weak. The ambitious and the inferior. You choose to become one or the other. But in this case, you chose to be amongst the strong. The ones with burning ambition. There is nothing to regret when you choose that path. _

_But why are you feeling an emptiness just moments ago? _The second voice challenged. _An emptiness that felt like a great void in your mind? Surely you are longing for something that you never felt in your previous life._

_But what is it?_ The large tabby gritted his teeth in anger. _Tell me! I'm tired of the riddles that are weaving like vines in my mind!_

_That was up to you to find out._ The second voice chipped in. _If only you still lived amongst the Clans. _

The tomcat curled his lips back in a snarl. _Why do you have to make me regret it? Why make things more difficult than they are now for me? _

The second voice ignored his attacks. _You were given great gifts. Rare talents by the cats of StarClan themselves. The gift to lead the Clans into a new era, a new age! Not for the worst but for the better. But what did you do? You used it for your own selfish gain._

_Stop! Just stop!_ The tabby screwed his eyes shut, his claws digging deeper into the boulder. Pain flooded his chest as he shook his head violently.

The voice continued mercilessly. _None of those things should've happened to you. None of it! You're destiny was never meant to be in this stinking forest! No, yours held more promise than that!_

_You will have your revenge soon. You promised it to yourself, remember?_ The first voice broke through. _All those who broke your grasp on your ambitions will suffer your wrath. You have an army of followers at your disposal, and they have sworn their loyalty to you! You will feel your claws touch his fur once again and this time nothing will stand in your way. Time will come when you can shred him apart to your heart's desire!_ The voice inspired burning anger. _That fox-hearted kittypet doesn't deserve to live. It's his turn to lie in the pool of his own blood!_

_He should be._ The tabby tomcat thought darkly, feeling an intense heat stir and move around his whole body.

_Or it could be you. Again._ a different voice spoke.

Instinctively, the large cat immediately jerked into a sitting position, straining his ears to make out the origin of the sound. The fur along his spine bristled upright while he unsheathed his long, black claws, gazing around with eyes narrowed to see if the intruder revealed himself. He gaped his jaw and drew in large amounts of air, hoping to detect it's scent but to his surprise, he found none. But his instincts told him that he wasn't alone. Not anymore.

The tabby tomcat squared his solid shoulders, dropping into an attack crouch. "Who are you?" Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the clearing. Fresh blood and oxygen pumped through his muscles, readying them in case the time of attack came.

_Keep your fur on._ The mysterious voice echoed around the circle of swishing black trees. _Just calm down._

The tomcat dug his razor-sharp claws deeper into the black soil. "Show yourself or you risk getting your poor hide shredded." He hissed menacingly.

_But may I ask you,_ the voice continued. _do you know where I really am?_

"I'm bound to know soon." He answered back without fear. "One reason I can't scent you is because the wind is blowing in your direction. I can shred you without fear of being killed but I'm giving you a chance to show yourself."

_Big words they are._ the mysterious voice remarked playfully. _Well, if you've got the guts to, then go ahead and find me. Let's see if you can._

"For the last time, show yourself and we might just avoid a useless fight."

_Well, if you insist then._ the voice ended, still a little playful.

"But just remember," the tomcat pulled his lips back in a snarl. "if you even think of attacking me, you've got the wrong cat to deal with."

_I'll keep that in mind._

Sensing a major change in the atmosphere around him, the tomcat felt the force of a gaze scorching his back. Pivoting around, he caught the sight of a glowing cat, a cat whose pelt gleamed and sparkled beautifully like the stars of the night sky, standing a few fox-lengths away from the large boulder he rested on. Patterns of gray stripes, blotches, specks and swirls ran down the back of the slim figure, with distinctive neon fur tracing down the middle of the head to the tail, following the position of the spine. He found himself drawn to the ocean-blue, unblinking eyes of the entity that stood before him. He attempted to move forward. but a ghostly paw rooted him firmly to the spot. The entity stepped forward, it's shoulders rippled with immense authority and power as it closed the distance between the boulder and itself. The black ground underneath it's paws glowed at each stride, it's moon-lit pelt rippling calmly like the lake water -albeit the strong gust of wind that stormed through the clearing of trees. It halted in it's tracks and sat back, unmoved by the hostility in the tomcat's eyes.

The star-lit cat stared at the tabby above. _Well, here I am._ It spoke directly into his mind.

"What do you intend to do here?" The broad-shouldered tabby still maintained his position, eyeing the entity warily.

The starlight cat reared it's round head back. Gazing at the tabby, he spoke again. _What else? Paying an old friend a visit._ The way it added those words struck fear into the tabby cat.

The tabby tom leapt down into the black ground, landing a distance away from the strange cat. Turning around, he unsheathed his black claws. "Do I know you?" He mewed through gritted teeth, lashing his bushy tail threateningly.

As calm as ever, the glowing cat stared unblinking into the eyes of the tomcat. The tabby didn't like the feeling he is getting that he was vulnerable. The glowing cat cocked it's head sideways, a playful glint reflected in his neon eyes. _To rephrase that, an old friend sent me to you._

"To what?" He asked warily, narrowing his amber eyes.

The star-lit cat lashed it's thick tail. _To turn things around._ A grin spread on it's face.

The tomcat shook his head. "Stop speaking to me in riddles!"

_Oh? But the fun part was just starting._ It answered back playfully.

"Get to the point already, glowing cat!" He added a venomous emphasis to the last two words.

_Learn to have some fun._ The glowing cat was completely unmoved by the tabby's hostile approaches. It stood again and circled the large tom. _But as you insist, so it be done._

"What are you going to do?" Alarm pulsed beneath his fur. What is this strange cat going to pull off? The fur along his spine twitched and bristled with anxiety as he took large, threatening steps toward the star-lit cat. "One wrong move and it's your head that will be resting on my claws tonight."

The star-lit cat elevated it's gaze to his. A fierce fire burned behind those neon eyes as it squared it's powerful shoulders, it's light-blue paws unsheathing their dangerous claws. "_Oh, but let's see if you can before I do._" It's eyes narrowed into eerie slits while it opened it's jaws, revealing two upper, canine teeth longer than the rest of the set. Saber teeth? Impossible!

The tabby tom felt his heart hammering inside his ribcage. _Saber cat descendants? Impossible!_ Unsheathing his long claws, he forced fresh oxygen and blood to his muscles. He raked the starlight cat with his gaze. "Back off, fox-heart!" He hissed loudly as he tensed his powerful legs, readying them for the jump.

The entity grinned maliciously at him. "_I'm afraid it's too late for that._" It broke out into a harsh, rattling laughter as it sprang on the tabby.

_Move! Move!_ Those thoughts screamed him to make a jump, but the tabby tom found himself transfixed by the neon eyes of the gargantuan entity looming on him. _Move! Do you want to die?_ His whole body was rooted helplessly on the spot, frozen like the river in leaf-bare.

_That's it, just think of nothing but the green._

_Jump out of the way!_ His thoughts screamed wildly.

_Embrace darkness, Tigerstar._ The voice echoed cruelly.

The tomcat felt his whole body being sliced in half, followed by something really warm steadily flowing out of it but before he could feel pain, shadows slowly crowded his vision before it finally rendered him sightless. He felt his spirit sink away into the depths of a black ocean, mindless of what just occurred. He found darkness' loving embrace once more.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Sensation

**AN: **I'm back again after a month. I'm sorry I couldn't work on this earlier, but apparently school and other personal projects have disrupted my time to buckle down on FocusWriter and get to work on it. I know this isn't much of a long chapter, but eh, one is better than submitting nothing. Don't bash me for the length, guys. I promise I'll dish out larger chapters in the future. By far, I just wanted you all to know that I'm not dead and so is Tigerstar/claw. Heck, I can't even decide if I should call him by the warrior name or the leader's name. ;p

Anyways, you probably wouldn't want to listen to me rant all day. So voila! Here is the awfully-short second chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Tigerstar peered through the abysmal maw that obscured his vision, vaguely aware of his current location and condition. Attempting to fidget, he felt his aching skull rolling through a damp and a thick layer of substance that crowded the perimeters of his cranium and face. Taking notice of it, he subconsciously scraped his outstretched left paw on the topmost area of his muzzle, it's gliding action running smoothly down until it encountered the soft bump where his nose started to form.

_Smooth?_ He flung open his heavy eyelids and as he did so, he flinched physically at the sudden intrusion of the blinding white light, accompanied by the viscous mud smeared across his face. _Eck. Gross._ He jabbed his paws on the agglutinative substance, then with a swift motion whisked away the watery mud._ I'll never touch mud again, thank you._ He thought, frantic that it might crawl some tree-lengths away and crawl on him again. He shuddered at the thought of the future nightmare._ Let's give this one last try._ Gingerly, he slowly cracked open his eyes. The fierce white light glared at his iris again. He deliberately forced himself to bear with it. After all, no weaknesses permitted!

After a moment, the glaring white light receded and Tigerstar discovered himself managing to sit upright. His head swam with the vertigo that it obtained, forcing him to shake his head roughly. _What a nasty hit to the head. _He thought, daring to crack his eyes open. The sudden intrusion of the light still existed, but the intensity of the glare receded greatly to the point that he could distinguish a few objects bordering the edges of his peripheral vision. Feeling the muscles work on his back, he elevated a paw to the level of his brows, eradicating the intrusion of the unrelenting light. At this point, he could take a glimpse clearly now. And what he sighted, it was enough to make his heart freeze and leap violently on his throat.

_Wow.. How..how in the name of the Dark Forest did I get here?_

The portrait of an evergreen meadow filled his vision, the lush grass of the meadow damp and gentle against his callous pads. The graceful and abiding breeze that bellowed on the meadow made the colourful mixture of willows and spruce trees ripple and dance with her, the ten-foot vertically high dark evergreen trees throwing triangular shadows that chased each other in the wind's desired direction. Tigerstar involuntarily inhaled sharply. The warm breath of the taunting breeze kneaded her delicate fingers on his rounded back, connoting a taunting chuckle at his trapezoidal ears. _How..how did I ever get here?_

Inquisitively, he tilted his spherical cranium back, shifting his eyeball above. _Woah._ The sight of the enormous dome-shaped cerulean ceiling almost gave him vertigo. Glimpsing, his eyes instinctively followed the trail of the cumulus clouds forming a graceful spiral like the ones he had witnessed in a small whirlpool. He could distinguish the illusion of a slightly darker blue hole gaping in the center. _That is a long way down, if the world is reversed._ He shuddered at the thought, envisioning his pulse rampaging like an uncivilized animal while feeling the wind buffeting at all sides. Most certainly, that would be an interesting - albeit heart-pounding experience.

A few more moments and his brain clicked into place. He could feel the sun's harsh actions of play on his dark tabby hide and it made him feel a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long time: thirst. A long-forgotten instinct overtook him and instantly, he felt his esophagus parched and pleading madly for the cool flow of fresh water spiral down and into his stomach. Working his jaw muscles, he gaped his mouth slightly.

"Water." he muttered intelligibly. _Must find water._ He felt his brain retreat to it's eerily familiar sluggish state. Thoughts drained out and instinct spoke up for him. Twisting around, he briefly scanned the capacious clearing.

Sub-consciously, he paced forward with lengthy strides. He felt the damp grass bend obediently beneath his pads, but his thirst-drunk being moved on impassively. With each stride, he felt his mind retreat further dangerously to the sluggish state he had feared. His thoughts screamed for him to make haste, but the warnings were muffled by overwhelming urge to taste water; to feel it hungrily embrace his throat again. Exerting his forelegs, he felt his body sway and trot in a sloppy manner.

_Must find water! _The three words screamed abhorrently, but were relentlessly pushed back and muffled by the sluggish mental setting conquering his brain. It seemed as if the sluggish state taunted at his ineffective attempt to eradicate it. Before long, he instinctively knew he would pass out again. This time, darkness would not be merciful and bring him in as she did the first time. He wandered off desperately, overwhelmed by the immense distress of thirst.

_Must find water! _

_Hahaha, it's too late to recuperate, Tigerstar, or should I say, Tigerclaw?_

_Must find water, damnit! _

_Come, sleep with me once again, Tigerclaw..._

_No..I won't.. I-I won't fall for your embrace again... You won't claim me this time like the previous one...I-I'll live.._

He thought he heard the bloodcurdling scream of the menacing voice in his head when he felt something icy and relaxing enclose around his forelegs and paws. He was still staggering perilously at the tenacious sensation and his vision had already become misty and his eyelids were drooping heavily with weariness. Without another thought for the yowling sound, an overwhelming urge overtook him and he felt himself thrusting to the relaxing, icy substance lying before him. Whatever that enclosed around his forelegs and hind quarters, a non-verbal connection told him it was the one object he was been searching for in his desperate attempt to avenge the burning thirst that lingered mercilessly in his throat.

Gaping his jaw lazily, a wet sensation instantly flooded his mouth cavity and throat. A battle of thirst and satisfaction erupted and it created an urge to swallow down more of the wet substance. Lapping hungrily, he briefly felt the feeling of wildness conquer him and he surrendered to the cool sensation. The ferociousness of Thirst was receding and the serene sensation was welling up in his throat. But a few moments passed, and he grew frantic that the favor of the battle was turning around to Thirst once again. Deciding that wasn't enough, he thrust his whole body to the wet sensation, eager to beat down the harsh grip of thirst for eternity. A sharp, cold bite seized his body and he flinched at the icy touch of the substance, but at the same moment, he sensed the heavy tension of the raging battle recede. A few seconds, and the scorching presence of Thirst was history.

_Yes. Finally. _The frantic and wild feeling receded alongside Thirst too. And for the first time on what he thought was a long time, the wings of serenity engulfed and embraced his whole being.


End file.
